Happy new year! Today, I’m starting to compile a visual database of the menu series used by western railroads. I’ve already compiled one of Union Pacific menu series, so it seems natural to look at other railroads too. I’ll begin with the Denver & Rio Grande Western and post lists from other railroads from time to time in the next few months.
I’m defining a “series” as a group of menus that follow a similar template defining where text, photos, and other illustrations are located. I’m also focusing on menu folders rather than cards; most railroads switched from cards to folders by the 1920s, and my collection doesn’t go back to before that time period.
This post does not include every menu I have in each series but only one example of each menu cover. As with my PDF pages, clicking on the image will download that menu while clicking on the year below will go to the post featuring that menu. Where possible, I’ve also included images of menus I don’t have, in which case the word “Missing” is used in place of a year and clicking on the image goes to a larger version of that image or, in one case, a low-resolution PDF of that menu.
Pastel Series
The Rio Grande may have had menu series before this one, but the oldest I have is one I call the Pastel Series, which featured pastel artworks of various scenes along the railroad. The covers also identify the meal above and the railroad name below the art. The back covers have a few paragraphs of text that somehow relate to the artwork. The front covers also have ragged edges on the right side.
 1938 Menu |  1938 Menu |  1938 Menu |
 1939 Menu |  1939 Menu |  1940 Menu |
 1940 Menu |  1941 Menu |
The Pastel menus I have date from 1938 to 1941, but Rio Grande could have used them earlier and may have used some during the war years. I’ve collected six in the series and identified one one other on eBay which I made into a downloadable PDF and posted a few days ago. Since each pastel could appear on a breakfast, luncheon, or dinner menu, there were potentially three different covers for each artwork, but I’m not attempting to collect all three meals for each piece of art.
Glued-On Photo Series
This menu series uses the same heavy paper and the same background tones but replaces the pastels with a color photo that has been glued on to each menu. Nearly all of the photos are 4 inches high by 5 inches wide, but one of the Royal Gorge is 5 inches high by 4 inches wide.
As with the Pastel series, the back cover features a few paragraphs of text that is sometimes only vaguely related to the cover photo. The front cover has the name of the meal and the words “Rio Grande” in speed letters. I read somewhere that the speed letter typeface was not designed by a professional but by a clerk in a Rio Grande office, but I haven’t been able to find the story behind that.
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The menus I have in this series are dated from 1944 through 1949. It’s possible Rio Grande began using them before 1944, but it is more likely that wartime restrictions prevented the use of such fancy menus. I’ve collected seventeen menus in this series and identified one, showing the Colorado State Capitol, that I posted a few days ago but have yet to find for my own collection.
Front & Back Cover Photo Series
In 1950, Rio Grande began using menus that printed a color photo right on the menu, using the entire front cover except for a small band of white at the bottom for the railroad name and meal. The back of each menu featured another photo with a brief description of both photos in the white band at the bottom. The back photo was either the Royal Gorge or the California Zephyr.
 1950 Menu |  1951 Menu |  1951 Menu |
 1951 Menu |  1951 Menu |
Front Cover Photo Series
Sometime between 1951 and 1954 the railroad changed the design slightly by putting text on the back rather than a photograph. Note that the Maroon Bells photo is used in both a 1951 and a 1956 version; presumably other cover photos from the front-and-back-cover photo series are also used on the front cover series. A 1954 menu I’ve identified but haven’t collected has the California Zephyr on the front and text on the back.
 1953 Menu |  Missing |  1956 Menu |
 1956 Menu |
Wrap-Around Photo Series
I’m not sure this qualifies as a series as the two menus I have are somewhat different. One shows the Prospector in a photo that covers the entire front and back covers of the menu. The other shows the Rocky Mountains near the Moffat Tunnel in a photo that covers the entire front cover but only about half the back cover. Both of these menus are dated 1967, so there’s a gap in my collection between 1956 and 1967 during which Rio Grande may have issued more menus in either of these series.
 1967 Menu |  1967 Menu |  1967 Menu |